Upper Deck

During the summer months most of my woodworking are projects for outside . . . like my recent greenhouse project. This project is a deck on the rear of our house. You can see from the pic it is up pretty high (11ft of the ground) and it is over the stairwell going into the basement (another 8ft).
The first step is to remove the siding. A definite must is a siding removal tool. Cost $6 and allows you to unhook the siding for removal.
Here I have all the siding removed and you...

Saturday I was off to Chester Dawe\Rona for some lumber for the deck. I had to pick through a whole bunch to find some decent stuff. I later remembered that they sell #2 lumber for #1 prices. I normally go to HD, but I needed long stuff and HD did not carry it.
My first task was to make a base plate for the 4×4s to rest on. After 5 years the bolts sticking out of the concrete were still good. I figured the tread would be rusted.
Here is the base laid in place. I ...

Its Canada Day. A day off from the ole grind . . . so I went back at the deck. I started by adding two more stringers. You will see why in a little while.
I’m not sure if everyone is like this, but when I’m working on an outside or rough construction work I like using scraps of wood as a notepad for jotting down measurements. This particular piece was left over from some xmas tree ornaments I made last fall.
Here is the frame all braced. Before bracing I checked it for squa...

I never did anything with the deck yesterday as I had some errands I had to run. This morning I started about 8:00 making sure that I had everything in place to rise the deck.
Up inside the door I have a 4×4 36” long that is resting on either side of the door frame. It is kept 3’ off the floor with a strapping legs. I will use this 4×4 as a place to tie off the deck as I tip it up. You can see the heavy duty tie down straps that I will be using to pull the deck into position....

Its July 4th and its back out at the deck. Yesterday I tipped the deck in place. Today was one of those days where it seemed that I did not have a whole lot to do . . . however it took me the entire day to do it. Go figure.
First on the agenda was to install the railing posts in the rear corners of the deck. Here is a pic taken from the upstairs door. And yes it’s a long way down.
I climbed up the ladder with the camera to take a pic installing one of the posts. The clamp held...

Here are a few bits and pieces I did this week (July 6th)
I finished the last two boards on the deck. I had to notch out around the posts. I must have made 30 trips up and down over the stairs. What a workout.
I then started on extending the posts. I am making the first cuts here. Cordless tools are great . . . when the batteries don’t die. Mine kept dying. I had to resort to a not overly sharp hand saw.
Close up of the cut. Its 1 ¾’ deep.
A finished post. Boy my arm ...

Here is the lumber from which I will be making the railing.
I have set up my table saw to do some ripping.
Here is everything dimensioned. The stack in the foreground of the short square board will the rails while the remainder will make up the frames.
I took all the short pieces and used a ½ round over bit in the router to get the following.
Here I am using my cheap block plane to round over the edges of the boards being used for the frame. Im moving so fast...

Its Saturday morning. It was forecasting for rain (which we desperately need) but it changed and we were to only get showers. So its out at the deck I go.
Here I am admiring the railing. :-)
Four of the five pieces up.
This is the 5th piece.
I hoisted each one up using my handy-dandy tie down straps.
I tapped these blocks in place to ensure that all railings were a uniform distance from the flooring.
Then it was off to the bracing. I removed the strap...

Well I’m done. This past weekend I installed the top rail and this evening I finished the leg bracing and prettied it up a little. Forgive the pictures as it is dark outside and I wanted to post this tonight.
A close-up of the finished railing.
Here is the prettying up. The metal panels we actually found in someone’s bulk garbage pickup.
So as a recap we have come from here . . .
To here . . . .
To here . . .